The Primeval History in the Book of Watchers

Updated by: 
Shlomi Efrati
Research notes: 
reader checked 27/04/2014 SE
Reference type: 
Book section
Author(s): 
Kvanvig, Helge S
year: 
2011
Full title: 

The Primeval History in the Book of Watchers

Journal / Book Title || Series Title: 
Primeval History: Babylonian, Biblical, and Enochic - An Intertextual Reading
Issue / Series Volume: 
149
Series Title: 
Supplements to the Journal for the Study of Judaism
Place of Publication: 
Leiden
Publisher: 
Brill
Pages: 
319-573
Work type: 
Essay/Monograph
Abstract: 

[Book abstract]
Most cultures have myths of origin. The Babylonians were the first to combine blocks of traditions about primeval time into primeval histories where humans had a central role. In the first millennium there were different versions that influenced the concepts of primeval history within Jewish religion, both in the Bible and in the parallel Enochic tradition. Atrahasis and the traditions of primeval dynasties had crucial impact on Genesis; the traditions of the primeval apkallus as cosmic guardians were lying behind the Enochic Watcher Story. The book offers a comprehensive analytic comparison between the images of primeval time in these three traditions. It presents new interpretations of each of these traditions and how they relate to each other.

Hebrew bible: 
Book: 
Genesis
Chapter(s): 
6
Label: 
02/05/2011
Record number: 
6 327